waves. look at that baby seal. isn't that cute? can you imagine? >> jesse: lazy. >> dana: smart, i would say. also, don't miss my latest podcast with jimmy failla incredible message for all graduates and that ends the season 3 of that podcast. all right. that is it for us. happy monday to you. "special report" starts now. >> greg: hi, bret. >> bret: welcome to "special report." i'm bret baier. we are coming to you tonight from bedminster, new jersey. >> the summer home of the 45th president of the united states. the leading candidate in the g.o.p. nomination battle donald j. trump. we will talk to the former president extensively about all issues in just a minute. first, the other headlines today. >> a rescue mission is underway after a vessel used to take tourists to see the underwater wreck of the titanic disappeared in the atlantic ocean around 90. u.s. coast guard and canadian military are searching for the loss of merciful.

five people on board that vessel. one of them is said to be british billionaire explorer amesh harding. secretary blinken said u.s. and china have stabilized deteriorating relations. the meeting with xi jinping did not result in a plan to improve the communications between the country's myrtle. we will ask former president trump about that in a minute. more than 100,000 customers in the southern u.s. were without power today following damaging scattered storms leaving residents searching for relief as sweltering temperatures continued to scorch that region. power outages for some customers in texas could stretch late into this week as crews scram to be make repairs. u.s. markets were closed today for the juneteenth holiday. mr. president thanks for the time. >> thank you. >> bret: i have asked the same question to all candidates i have interviewed this year and that is this. what do you think is the most important issue facing the country right now? >> so many so important but we have to straighten out the

economy. we are going to do that through inflation. we have to straighten out the border where we have millions of people pouring in. and do that quickly. i had the safest border in the hills industry of our country and most unsafe, i think, in the world. never been anything like it. we have to strengthen up our military, giving 85 billion, billion dollars to afghanistan didn't exactly help. we have to strengthen up our military and get the woke out of our military. and basically respect all over the world. we don't have it anymore. we had tremendous respect three years ago. we don't have respect anymore. they don't listen to us. they don't care about us. they just don't do what we want them to do and what they have to do. especially since we make life very good for many countries. and we have to get that respect back and if we don't, we have got some big problems. >> bret: we asked viewers to send in questions on social media. we had a ton of responses. here's one of them. erika tweets. this. what is the first thing you will do to turn this country around if you get elected? >> well, i do two

simultaneously. i start drilling. we have the most liquid gold under our feet oil than any other country. more than saudi arabia, more than russia. and that's going to bring down the pressure on inflation and we are going to very little inflation very soon. we had virtually none when i was on president. second, close up the border. because we can't have prisoners and people from mental institutions coming into our country. they are emptying out from all over the world. not just from the three or four countries we talk about. neighboring countries all over the world. they are coming into our country at levels that nobody has ever seen before, bret. and we have to stop it. and they are emptying out their prisons and they're emptying out their mental institutions and insane asylums into the u.s. we are not a dumping ground. i would stop it immediately and get a lot of the bad ones out. we would get them out very quickly. >> bret: fox viewers were able to watch your speech here at bedminster. >> they want to take away my freedom because i will never let them take away your freedom. >> bret: the day of your arrest.

>> can you believe it. >> arrest by my opponent. >> appearance in federal court in miami. >> right. >> bret: your splanks the presidential records act and your defense how you and others believe that that applies here. obviously you know other legal experts, your attorney general bill barr, they do not think that that applies to handling classified national security and defense materials. but, that legal battle aside, i want to ask you a couple of specifics. why did you have this very sensitive national security defense documents like the the r plans for a strike on iran. >> like every other president i take things out. in my case i took it out pretty much in a hurry. people packed it up and left. i had clothing in there i had all sorts of personal items in there much, much stuff. by the way, when bill barr who is a coward. bill barr was a coward. bill barr didn't do what he was supposed to do. i fired him and he has great hatred and that's okay some people do. some people love me very much.

>> he said he resigned. >> i asked him to give me a letter immediately because he didn't have the courage to go after some different things you and i have discussed that before. he was a coward. he obviously doesn't like me too much. and there are a lot of people that don't. there are a lot of people that feel just the opposite. >> bret: specific on the documents. >> let me explain. i have got a lot of things in there. i will go through those boxes. i have to go through those boxes. i take out personal things. as far as the levels at all. everything was declassified because i had the right to declassify. you want to talk about a mess, take a look at biden, where he has got 1850 boxes. he halls boxes stored in chinatown in d.c. he has boxes stored at penn center and boxes under his corvette and around his corvette sitting in a garage for years where it was very seriously classified. i have every right to have those boxes. this is purely a presidential records act. this is not a criminal thing. in fact, the "new york times" of all had a story just the other day that the only way nara could

ever get this stuff, this back would be please, please, please could we have it back? >> bret: and they asked for that. they did ask for it? >> no. i gave them some. >> bret: gave them documents back and then they said they went to doj to subpoena you. >> which they have never done before. >> bret: why not just hand them over then? >> because i had boxes i want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. i don't want to hand that over to nara yet. and i was very busy. as you have sort of seen. let. >> bret: yeah, according to the indictment you tell this aide to move to other locations after telling your lawyers to say you had fully complied with the subpoenaed when you hadn't. >> but i send over take boxes out. these boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things, golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes, there were many things. iran, much more. >> war documents with iran. >> not that i know of. everything was declassified. and biden didn't have the right to do that because he wasn't

president. nor did mike pence, by the way, have the right to do that because he wasn't president. >> bret: i'm not going to belabor this. i want to get to the specifics. >> other presidents when they leave they take the papers. they have thousands and thousands. obama had it. nixon had it. carter had it. bushes had it. >> bret: there are arguments these are super sensitive documents. >> i'm sure you will see super sensitive that biden has. biden has far more than anybody has ever kept. >> bret: he turned them over when asked. >> he still hasn't given 1850 boxes that's stored at the university of delaware. in fact, they are fighting them in court and they are fighting them. >> bret: but he opened up for them to look at? >> excuse me, the boxes from chinatown, he didn't turn them over. he sent them up to his lawyer in boston to look at before they head landed them over. >> bret: their special counsel is look at that and we will see what comes out of it. >> you can imagine. >> bret: i don't want to dwell on it. according to the indictment you were here at bedminster

july 21st, 2021, after you were no longer president and you were recorded saying that you had a document detailing a plan attack on another country prepared for the u.s. military for you when you were president, the iran attack plan? do you remember that? >> ready? it wasn't a document. i had lots of paper. i had copies of newspaper articles. i had copies of magazines. >> bret: i know this is specifically a quote. you are quoted on the recording saying the document was secret adding that he. now i can't. this is still secret. highly confidential. and the indictment cites the recording and the testimony from people in the room saying you showed it to people there that day. you say on tape. >> just the opposite. >> bret: that you can't declassify it then why have it? >> why i said i couldn't declassify it now because i wasn't president. i never made any bones about that. when i'm not president, i can't declassify. >> bret: that's what you said. >> i said no, no. i said i couldn't. >> i could have declassified it. >> bret, there was no document.

that was a massive amount of papers and everything else, talking about iran and other things. and it may have been held up or may not. that was not a document. i didn't have any document per se. there was nothing to declassify, these were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles. >> bret: i'm just saying what the indictment says the recording and the people in the room who testified? >> these people are very dishonest people, they are thugs. if you look at what they have done to other people, what they have done and overturned in the u.s. supreme court. these are thugs. >> bret: the suggestion was that you wanted this as evidence that the military, the chairman of the joint chiefs general milley had preemptively sent you plans for a possible attack on iran and that you didn't order that to happen. that's the suggestion. >> i never ordered that to happen, no. >> bret: that's why you wanted the document. >> i don't think i have ever seen a document from mille. milley, frankly, was incompetent. the last one i would want to attack with as my leader is milley. that i can tell you. >> bret: there are 31 documents missing. nuclear capabilities of foreign

country triteds receipt. related to military intelligence briefings on foreign countries. why do you want to hold on to those documents after you are president? >> i don't say i do. >> bret: you just didn't know it was in the boxes. >> with nara giving them back. all of a sudden we got raided, which is a violation of my, you know, fourth amendment rights. they raided my home and they came and they took things. we were discussing this with nara. look at obama, look at clinton. you know, clinton took documents. clinton took tapes in his socks. >> bret: interviews. >> the clinton socks case. >> bret: i do know it well. >> it basically said the president has every right to keep whatever he wants. and that includes me. this is not a criminal case. >> bret: highly classified government national security documents fall in that category and that battle is going to be fought in the courts. >> it's already been fought. there is a decision strongly that you can keep. but i wouldn't have kept but they raided my house. they came in and raided. we were discussing having very good discussions with nara.

a radical left group by the way, and all of the sudden my house got raided. >> bret: do you know if you still have any highly sensitive government documents. >> no, i don't have anything, no. what i'm concerned about they took everything. right? i don't know what they took. they could be stuffing it. i don't know what they put in there. and we wanted to be there when they were taking. they wouldn't let anybody in the room. they have never treated a president like this. >> bret: and that's fair for you to point out. i guess what this points to is this recording where you said you could have declassified it when you were president. you didn't. >> no, no. >> i could have when i was president but there is no document there. those were newspaper articles. they were copies of articles. and magazines. there was no document there. and i couldn't have done it after i was out. >> bret: this is what you said in 2016 about handling this. >> in my administration, i'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information.

[cheers] no one will be above the law. >> we also need to fight this battle by collecting intelligence and then protecting, protecting our classified secrets. we can't have someone in the oval office who doesn't understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified. >> bret: your vice president mike pence says he is, quote, deeply troubled by what's in the indictment and he says, quote: of the indictment contains serious charges and i cannot defend what's alleged. >> mike pence had documents that were classified. >> bret: and he turned them over. >> no, he didn't turn them over. he got caught. his lawyers found some documents and then he turned them over. why did he have them? he shouldn't be saying that because he had classified documents. and immediately they said oh, that's okay. and i suppose it's going to be okay with biden, too, even though he has them in chinatown?

even though he has them in delaware and probably 100 times more than i have? >> bret: so you are not worried about this case? >> based on the law, zero. zero. presidential records act plus the act, plus the clinton case, the clinton case which was won by clinton as president because he took -- he took tapes of leaders in his socks. zero. >> bret: okay. >> zero. every good lawyer has said it and you have seen that every good lawyer has said that. >> bret: obviously there are others that push back. >> this is a weaponization of politics. this was a weaponization of the white house. this was a horrible thing, a candidate that's leading. i'm leading biden by a lot. they go out and they weaponize. there is a horrible thing that was done. >> bret: let's talk about the politics. >> it's never been done. >> bret: let's talk about the politics. you are facing a number of other potential charges in other cases. >> all democrat --

>> >> bret: you believe they are political witch hunts? >> . >> bret: what do you do you saye voters liked your policies. >> they still do. >> bret: they can't handle the name calling and vitriol. what do you say to the voter that says that all leads to a general election loss. >> based on the polls i'm leading biden by a lot. based on the polls, i'm leading all of the republicans by a lot by 40 points and more. right now, i have the best polls i have ever had. people see this stuff for what it is. it's a political witch-hunt. it's a continuation. >> bret: more independent voters watch fox news than any other tv source. >> a lot less than used to watch? >> bret: they watch. >> a lot let less,. >> bret: bret they make up the difference in the election. the female independent voter in the suburbs who suffered with family financing because of inflation. she now against biden. disapproves of biden but wasn't

with you in 2020 and so far is a hard no for you in 2024. but what do you say to that. >> not looking at the right polls. >> bret: what do you say to the female independent suburban voter to he will win her back. >> first of all i won in 2020 by a lot. let's get that straight. i won in 2020. >> bret: you know that's not what the votes show. >> look at everything you want to look at. take a look at truth to vote. where they have people stuffing the ballot boxes on tapes or. >> bret: mr. president it's all been looked into. >> go to recent fbi twitter. the 51 agents. all corrupt stuff,. >> bret: understand about hunter biden that's fair things. you laos the 2020 election. >> bret, you take a look at all of the stuffed ballots, take a look at all of the things, including things like the 51 intelligence agents. >> bret: there were recounts in all of the swing states there was not significant widespread fraud. >> trying to get recounts, real recounts.

>> bret: widespread corruption not a sense of that there were lawsuits. more than 50 of them by your lawyers, some of in front of judges that you appointed. >> look at wisconsin. >> bret: came up with no evidence. >> bret, wisconsin is practically admitted it was rigged. other states are doing the same right now and it's continued. >> bret: been reviews of every potential of case of voter fraud in six battleground states and found fewer than 475 cases. >> do you know why? they didn't look at the right things, bret. they were counting ballots, not the authenticity of the ballot. the ballots were fake ballots. you had this is a very rigged election. >> bret: this is how you are going to tell that independent suburban voter. >> no. we are off to winning an election and i think we are winning very well. i got a poll just recently i have it here. >> bret: i know. i watch the numbers. >> i showed you we were leading by tremendous numbers. >> bret: you know polls change. >> we are leading with women. >> bret: you know polls change. they changed in 2016 to your favor. >> i thought i was doing well

from the beginning but you know. >> bret: they change, the polls. what did you learn from your first term that you took from and changes that you would make if you get elected? >> i would like to be less combative. but i find the press is extremely dishonest. and i'm not combative, i don't get my word across. i don't think you could win. regardless me or somebody else, if somebody else got the nomination, these radical left maniacs would come after them at a level like you have never seen before. and they are not going to be able to withstand it. our country is sick. it's sick. we have people that will do anything and it's a very sad thing, like the document hoax. this should have never been brought. we are in the middle of a political campaign and they want to arrest the opponent who is leading the person that's in theory in charge of government? this stuff shouldn't happen. >> bret: what changes would you

make? >> strong people, strong government. you know, when i came down to washington, i was in washington 17 times in my life to d.c. overnight i was never there anyone the people. i didn't know that world other than i was involved in politics have the other side very much. and i had -- i put great people in, but i put some people like bill barr and bolton and a few of them actually bolton was good because every time i negotiated people said oh, they have got this maniac here. is he going to go to war with us and they concede every point. it was actually pretty good in a certain way. we put people in that were great and we put people in that weren't. i now know washington probably better than anybody. i know the good ones and the bad ones. we will have really great, strong people. i already know who they are. we will have really great strong people. >> bret: okay. in 2016 you said that. i'm going to surround myself with only the best and most

serious people. >> well, i did do that and we had tremendous -- we had the best economy the world has ever seen. >> bret: this time your vice president mike pence is running against you. your ambassador united nations nikki haley is running against you. your former secretary of state mike pompeo said he is not supporting you. you mentioned national security adviser john bolton is he not supporting you either. you mentioned attorney general bill barr says you shouldn't be president again. calls you the consummate narcissist and troubled man. you recently called barr a gutless pig. your second defense secretary is not supporting you. called you irresponsible. this week you and your white house called white house chief of staff john kelly weak and ineffective and born with a very small brain. called mick mulvaney a born loser. you called your first secretary of state rex tillerson dumb as a rock and first defense secretary james mattis overrated general. you called kayleigh mcenany milk toast and multiple times have you referred to transportation secretary elaine

chao as mitch mcconnell's china loving wife. so, why did you hire all of them in the first place? >> because i hired 10 to 1 that were fantastic. >> people in charge of the economy. we had phenomenal people in the military. i'm not a found of milley and not a fan of certain of the television people. but i knocked out isis. i defeated isis. they said mattis, it would take three years and i don't think we can do it. i did it in a period of like four weeks. >> bret: there a lot of people who praise you for your policies. i just said that. >> that's true. you just went through a list. but don't forget, for every one you say i had 10 that love us. and one thing happens i find with me that i think didn't happen so much with other presidents. call it glamorous, "time," whatever, but with me, the "times," "the washington post," various people, even fox because, you know, i'm no great fan of fox anymore. they 230u9 me very hard. you got to get your word out somehow, right?

they fought me very hard in 2016 very much the way they are fighting me now very, very hard. and i won and they became very nice. but i will tell you that something happens when people leave they can like me very much. i have this woman alyssa farah, she said the greatest things long after she left he is the greatest president we have ever had. unbelievable. then "the view" offered her a contract. but, obviously, only if she changed her views and all of the sudden she can say negative things. money gets offered to people and some people change. >> bret: there are people on that list not taking money. >> most important part they are, barr did a book. barr was a coward. the name -- people that you named for every person you named i can name 20 people that loved the administration. and maybe more importantly the voters loved the administration. the voters are dying to get back to it, bret. the voters are tired of being laughed at all over the world. we are run by a fool. we are run by a man that doesn't have a clue.

>> bret: i want to talk about foreign policy but just to leave, this you had former senior adviser steve cortes saying it's going to be tough to get the best and brightest because of. so name-calling of people who left. >> steve cortes is a nice person. i didn't give him the job he wanted because i didn't think he was qualified. then he went over to desanctimonious' camp. i didn't give him the job. i probably would say the same kind of thing if i wouldn't get a job. if somebody wants a job. and a lot of people you mentioned there they didn't get the job. a couple of them weren't made permanent. i didn't want to make them permanent because i didn't think they were good enough. during the course of that four years i know the best people. remember this, we took out isis, we developed space force. i rebuilt the military. i got the largest tax cuts in history. i got the largest regulation cuts in history. i did right-to-try so that people don't have to die without a chance. we could use space-age medical knowledge and we have the greatest labs in the world. i did all of these things and much, much more.

nobody has ever seen it like that. one other thing, russia would have never invaded ukraine. china would never have be talking about even the concept of going into taiwan. would have never happened. i was getting out of afghanistan. we would have gotten out through dignity and strength. instead it was the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. thieves are all great things. and people want them back. >> bret: if there president, stand by if you would. please join us after this break for the second part of the interview tonight. in this market, you'll find fisher investments is different than other money managers. (other money manager) different how? aren't we all just looking for the hottest stocks? (fisher investments) nope. we use diversified strategies to position our client's portfolios for their long-term goals. (other money manager) but you still sell investments that generate high commissions for you, right? (fisher investments) no, we don't sell commission products. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client's best interest. (other money manager) so when do you make more money, only when your clients make more money? (fisher investments) yep. we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments, we're clearly different.

[city ambience sounds] [car screech] [car door slam] [camera shutter sfx] introducing ned's plaque psoriasis. [camera shutter sfx] he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. [ned?] it can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing it for nearly a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. [crowd gasp] ♪ with clearer skin, movie night is a groovy night. [ting] ♪ live in the moment.

ask your doctor about otezla. progressive makes it easy to save with a quick commercial auto quote online. so you can get back to your monster to-do list. really? get a quote at progressivecommercial.com.

so... i know you and george were struggling really? with the possibility of having to move. how's that going? we found a way to make bathing safer with a kohler walk-in bath. a kohler walk-in bath provides a secure, spa-like bathing experience in the comfort of your own home. a kohler walk-in bath has one of the lowest step-ins of any walk-in bath for easy entry and exit. it features textured surfaces, convenient handrails for more stability, and a wide door for easier mobility. kohler® walk-in baths include two hydrotherapies— whirlpool jets and our patented bubblemassage™ to help soothe sore muscles in your feet, legs, and back. a kohler-certified installer will install everything quickly and conveniently in as little as a day. they made us feel completely comfortable in our home. and, yes, it's affordable. i wish we would have looked into it sooner. think i might look into one myself. stay in the home and life you've built for years to come. call... to receive $1000 off your kohler® walk-in bath. and take advantage of our low monthly payment financing.

>> we do not support taiwan independence. >> secretary blinken met with xi jinping in beijing. you have been very critical toward the biden administration toward china. today blinken said. this we do not support taiwan independence. should taiwan be independent? >> so, if i tell you an answer, it's going to hurt me in negotiations on the assumption that i win. but i have a very good relationship with president xi. after covid came in i sort is of didn't want the relationship and i sort of ended the relationship after having made one of the greatest trade deals ever made, including usmca, mexico, canada. i made deals with japan and made deals with many countries. worst trade deals and now the best trade deals.

usmca canada and mexico. replaced nafta. everybody even said you even said be impossible to end it. i got terminated by congress, actually, and got usmca. it's so good. >> bret: i don't think i ever said that by the way. >> it's a long time ago. mexico and canada. it's so good they want to renegotiate the deal. i hope they don't do that i hope we don't agree to that best trade deal with china. $50 billion a year where they have to buy from us. i got $28 billion from china to give to our farmers because our farmers were treated badly. >> bret: would you keep the china tariffs on? >> i would keep the china tariffs on. >> >> bret: or take them off. >> keep them on, tremendously. it's a tremendous power thing. china was dying over the tariffs. i took in hundreds of millions of dollars from china. no other president has ever taken ten cents. i watched gordon chang the other night say the only one that was tough on china, so tough that frankly he couldn't believe it was donald trump. it's not just tough.

it's being smart. >> bret: if china invaded taiwan would you go to war. >> i'm not going to say that because that hurts me in negotiations with regard to president xi. now, he knows what i do. and, by the way, for four years, they didn't invade taiwan. and they never even talked about it. you will find very few discussions about it. and for four years russia never even thought about it. because putin and i, i had a very good relationship. business relationship. but i got along with him and he got along with me, despite the phoney russia witch-hunt which made it much more difficult. having that phoney adam schiff, hillary clinton witch-hunt for two and a half years going on made it much more difficult. despite that, he knew he could not go into ukraine. i told him very strongly you can't do it. and if you do it it's going to be a problem. and he never did. >> bret: i want to talk about ukraine. just to end on china. this weekend president biden speaking of chinese spy balloon said. this i think it was more embarrassing than it was

intentional. >> bret: what do you think about that. >> that's such a stupid statement. >> bret: what would have you done. >> they would have never had a spy balloon if i was president. there wouldn't be a spy balloon over our country. that spy balloon was going over our nuclear sites taking pictures and we killed it after it had -- it was leaving. going back home to china, wherever it was going. but we shot it down over the ocean after it had done all of its work. they don't keep it on the balloon and you pick it up. that stuff is sent back to china instantaneously as it's taken. so, a statement like that is so stupid. they have taken pictures of every one of our nuclear facilities in the midwest where we have a lot, where they know better than anybody that we have a lot. >> bret: you are saying that wouldn't have happened under you. >> they would never have ever done it, no. president xi and i had a very strong relationship. just like i did with kim jong un of north korea. look, when i took office everyone assumed we were going to war with north korea. including president obama. he said the single biggest problem we have in the world

today is north korea. i said have you called him? and i got sort of a mixed answer. the answer is he did call but kim jong un wouldn't see them, okay? tough guy, smart guy. tough guy. i got along with him. and there was no threat. i did an amazing job. that would have been a war. if obama would have stayed or if hillary clinton would have been in, a little bit longer, if they would have extended his term miraculously, f. but if hillary clinton -- you would have had a nuclear war with north korea. by the way, you are possibly very close right now, this is the most dangerous time in the history of our country, you are possibly very close to having a nuclear war with russia. >> bret: all right. let's talk about russia. you said you would ended russia-ukraine war in 24 hours. >> that's right. >> bret: your g.o.p. opponents don't believe that former new jersey governor chris christie said this. despite how ridiculous that is to say i suspect he would try to do it by turning ukraine over to putin and russia. >> excuse me. >> bret: how would you do that.

>> number one chris christie who i know very well, he got out of new jersey after the bridge gate scandal which was a mess. he got out of new jersey with a 9% approval rating and most people say it was less than that, okay? he wouldn't be the right guy to do it but i am. i got along with zelenskyy very well because he came up with an impeachment hoax number one. he come up, you know what he said. no, i wasn't threatened at all. i don't even know what you are talking about when they said were you threatened by president trump? he was very good. he could have grandstanded and said well, i felt a little bit threatened. no, he wasn't threatened at all. he said it very loud -- i got along with him very well. i respected him for that frankly he could have done a grandstand made me look good, made me look bad. he said i was never threatened. that was a very nice conversation. i called him up to congratulate him. with putin i have a very good relationship. i haven't spoken to him in a long while, but i had a very strong relationship. >> bret: was he wrong to invade ukraine? >> he wouldn't have done it if

it were move. >> bret: were it a wrong move. >> i thought he might do it. look, i talked to him, i said if you do it, there is going to be hell to pay. it's going to be a catastrophe. don't do it. he said no, no, no. you won't do that i told him i was going to do something. he said no, no, no. you will not do that i said vlad i will do it. i'm going to do it. he didn't believe me. it was pretty bad. and he didn't believe me at all except for maybe 10%. and 10% is all you needed. there was no threat. it was only after i left that you started hearing about this. but i will tell you. >> bret: separate country infantry from russia? >> it's a separate country at one point it wasn't a separate country and putin liked it that way. >> bret: is that part of the deal. should putin get crimea? >> right now i don't talk about those deals because it really would impede a negotiation. but i'm telling you within 24 hours, that's what i did. i became very rich by doing deals very rich. and do you know what?

much more so than people even understand. and that's what i do. i would have a deal done in 24 hours from the time we started. and i would tell zelenskyy something and i would tell putin something and i would get them into a room and tell them again and again. i would have a deal done very quickly. and do you know what? the death would stop. and the destruction would stop. because, look, ukraine has been wiped out. >> bret: under your administration, the u.s. did not go war. >> first time in 78 years. can you see a scenario would go to war. iran got a nuclear weapon? >> we would have had a great deal with iran. i was getting very close to iran. we would have ha deal done with iran within two weeks after the election. they wouldn't have had a nuclear weapon and they would have been very happy. i terminated that horrible thing called the iran nuclear deal. one of the dumbest deals i have ever seen. i have seen some dumb ones. nafta was bad. the dumb was the iran nuclear

deal. billions of dollars in cash was brought over to iran in boeing 757s. and just handed billions cash, green. i mean green cash. the one thing about that deal expired in a short period of time. that gave them open roads to having nuclear weapons. people thought this iran nuclear deal that was done by obama was like a good deal. it was so terrible. but, remember this: it expired in just about now. it expired. and once it expired, they had the right to do anything. terminated that deal. on my way to making unbelievable deal where they don't have nuclear weapons. the other thing i was -- i have been cooking very well with china and russia getting rid of nuclear weapons. i was making a lot of progress on that until the election. >> bret: you think that's all gone away. >> i think it can come back but it certainly went away quickly. because this current administration doesn't have the capability to do it. they don't have the capability to do it. they don't have a clue.

the chinese very smart. this is a very smart country. they own us. until i came along they just owned every president including, including presidents that i liked. but, remember this. i took in hundreds of billions of dollars. tax or tariff, you can call it either one. i put a tariff on steel. if i didn't do that. you wouldn't have any steel mills. if yu i didn't do that you wouldn't have washing machines made in the country anymore. >> bret: one of the countries very concerned about the iran nuclear ambitions is saudi arabia. what do you make of the biden administration to saudi arabia. >> i think it's terrible. we lost saudi arabia. they are friends of mine. they are great people. the crowned prince and the king i got along with them incredibly. they would do everything. they are great, great people. but they have actually gone over to china now if you think about it. think of it. it was even unthinkable if somebody suggested it during my

administration, nobody would take it even seriously. saudi arabia has really gone over to china. china is protecting them now. we have lost saudi arabia. biden goes over and does a fist bump with the king. he is the king. the future king of saudi arabia. do you know what a fist bump is don't touch my hands because they are dirty. so he tells him don't touch my hands because your hands are dirty. let's do a fist bump and he does a fist bump. do you know how insulted they were by that? look. we have people that are stupid running our country. from this is the most dangerous time in the history, in my opinion in the history of our country. in the history of the world. because of the power of weaponry. it's the most -- this is the most unbelievably dangerous time because of nuclear weapons and other things, by the way. we have incompetent people running our country in the most dangerous time. now, little articles come out. little articles just like two sentences long that they spotted russia sending nuclear weapons to belarus. little article like two

sentences. i said that's a big thing. see, that's a big thing. that's so big. can't allow that to happen that's so big. >> bret: what would you have done. >> he wouldn't have done it with me. putin wouldn't have done it with me. that's the difference. halder to explain that to people. can you do more if you have the right president by phone calls and quick meetings than you can by having all these so-called geniuses all over the place that don't know what they're doing. >> bret: on saudi arabia, what do you say to the critics who say you are too c too close to m you are getting a lot of money from liv golf playing at your golf courses and that there are billions of dollars of investment with your son-in-law jared and daughter ivanka? >> i would lose a billion or two by being president. i lost billions of dollars by not doing deals in saudi arabia. i could have done hotels in saudi arabia. i could have done hotels in the middle east. they offered me -- i turned down

one deal for $2 billion net, net, nothing to do just use the name trump and build your job and this and that i would have $2 billion i turned it counsel. down.i told my kids good kids ad working kids. not scam artists. i told don and eric we don't want to deal any deals and ivanka. i don't want do do any deals. we have got a lot of stuff. just run it, run it properly like this. run it properly. i don't want it do deals because any deal i do is going to be perceived as being in conflict. then all of a sudden i start to see the stuff that biden has done where he is going around scamming every country. he goes to a country and then millions of dollars shows up into accounts. these are aren't deals. these are cash coming in and here's the most disappointing thing, the press doesn't want to cover it. jamie comer and jim jordan and that whole group are doing incredible job. you take a look at the amount of writing done on the millions and millions of dollars coming out

of china and other countries like, excuse me, ukraine, into the biden family and in all fairness to fox, other than you, there is basically nobody that reports on it. >> bret: i want to rewind. did you just praise fox. >> i did. >> bret: we have been covering that. >> have you been covering it. i give you credit. >> bret: would you want jared and ivanka to serve in the administration. >> i said that's enough for the family. it's too painful for the family. my family has been through hell. eric, my son a fine boy. you know him very well. is he a fine young man. good student, good everything. comes in doing beautifully and then i decide to run for president. i mean, i don't think anybody in the world in history has ever had more subpoenas sent to them. nobody has been through what my family has been through. ivanka had a really successful line of clothing. i mean, making a fortune. when i did this she closed it up. she sort of felt she had to but she closed it up.

my other boys were doing great. instead of taking advantage being president. other would say it's disiewnd. nancy pelosi is worth $125 million a i read she never got paid more than $150,000 a year. how does that happen? >> bret: yet, you want to go through this all again. >> because i want to make america great again? we had great. we were respected all over the world. very simple i want to make america great again. >> bret: we will have the other half of our interview with former president trump. he talks about his prescription for the u.s. economy. his assessment of his opponents and the g.o.p. criminal justice reform and what the first lady thinks about all of this tomorrow 6:00 p.m. eastern time. analysis on this interview from our all-star panel right after the break.

our heritage is ingrained in our skin. and even when we metamorphosize into our new evolved form, we carry that spirit with us.

because you can take alfa romeo out of italy. but you best believe, you can't take the italy out of an alfa romeo. my name is brian delallo. i teach ap and honors economics in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. financial well-being to me is knowing that i can be free to do the things that i love to do. i hope when i retire someday, they say, that guy made this place a special place to come to school and gave as much as he could to help the community.

kudos to you for that i would say a couple things. one is that his answers on the matters of the law seem to me to be the verge on incoherent. he seemed to be saying that the documents were really his and that he didn't give them back when he was to do. so he was subpoenaed wasn't

ready to because he hadn't classified the information from his golf shirts or what he was saying. not all together clear was saying. the documents were his that he had declassified. evidence to the contrary. and therefore, he, you know, he could do whatever he wanted with them which i don't think it's going to hold up in court. secondly, when you asked him what his pitch was to the kind of suburban female voter that he had lost in 2020, his answer was to talk about how he didn't lose in 2020 election. i don't think that's an appealing message for the future and i'm sure his legal and political advisers were wincing all the way through his answers on both those points. >> bret: martha? >> so i think strongest -- i agree with brit on both of those points. >> bret: and bret are. >> martha: all the bs. the strongest part was on foreign policy. it's fascinating to watch what is unfolding here when he talks about whether or not putin would invaded ukraine. what would have happened with the spy balloon. and i will think this is the

area that a lot of americans feel very unsettled about. they are worried when they watch antony blinken come back from china having apparently said, you know, we have to make some concessions. one of the things they came back with as a deliverable was more flights going back and forth between china and the u.s. i don't think that's a step towards decoupling or getting pharmaceuticals, you know, to be made back here in the united states. i think the foreign policy stuff is going to be his strongest suit when he heads into the election. and it is the thing that i think americans find somewhat comforting. >> bret: larry, tomorrow, is he going to give more detail about his economic prescription going forward. hints it's tax and regulation much like you did in the first administration. if you look at the polls, the average of polls and some of these are even h higher than ths in the g.o.p. primary he holds a massive lead over governor desantis in second. you are saying the economy is a big part of it? >> larry >> i don't disagree with the

emphasis under biden completely fallen apart. the respect around the world that we once did. i think this is going to be a pocketbook election. and it's funny, you know, we had a thing on our show tonight, mre in the "wall street journal" saying real incomes are rising. we go back and look at the bureau of labor statistics real incomes are falling steadily throughout his entire administration. that has always been the soft underbelly of the biden economy. inflation high, job wages falling and reagan's terms take-home pay is going down. this is trump's strongest suit on taxes and regulations and energy. he left the economy at 6.5% with 1.5 inflation and biden has murdered the economy. the reason he is ahead in the republican polls is because he constantly talks about an economic growth agenda. growth, growth, growth.

none of the other candidates have done that i'm not saying they couldn't do it. i'm not saying they couldn't develop it. i'm not saying they don't have a case. but they have not done it. and he did it again just in this brief first half interview he started talking about it. >> bret: you will hear more tomorrow. dana, speaking of cases, on the legal front, it's just interesting to hear his take as opposed to what's written in that indictment. they are very -- there a dichotomy there. deign from the beginning there is a political defense and legal defense. i don't know what the legal defense ultimately will be. but i do think in a way, when the justice department and the judge say okay, yeah. mr. trump, you're no longer allowed to talk about this. take him up on it and say to you, bret, i have been told i can't talk about it. i will guarantee you that i will win in court, i will have my day there. but i'm not going to talk about it. you can read -- that way it's not constantly spinning him into a situation where he is talking about the legal papers. >> bret: i was prepared for that ready to bounce off.

>> dana: and move on. i also want to see if any of those candidates in particular, let me just say ron desantis. he is the closest next to trump but again it's like 40 points -- 30 points. will ron desantis actually take aim at president trump based on anything that he just said? there was a headline yesterday that said trump takes clear aim at or desantis takes clear aim at trump at this event but never mentioned him by name. to me that's not clear aim. there's a lot to shoot at here. will ron desantis do something? >> bret: or vice president pence. panel returns after a quick break. we will do more analysis of that interview tonight. ♪ ♪ if she likes playing golf? it's expensive. we're outlawing golf. wait. can i still play? since we work with emower, we don't have to worry about planning for a third kid. you can still play golf... sometimes. take control of your financial future to empower what's next. i won't let me moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me...

emerge as you. with tremfya®, most people saw 90% clearer skin at 4 months... ...and the majority stayed clearer, at 5 years. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge as you. emerge tremfyant®. ask you doctor about tremfya®. oh booking.com, ♪ i'm going to somewhere, anywhere. ♪ ♪ a beach house, a treehouse, ♪ ♪ honestly i don't care ♪ find the perfect vacation rental for you booking.com, booking. yeah. somebody would ask her something and she would just walk right past them. she didn't know they were talking to her. i just could not hear. i was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair. but nobody even sees them. our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason we've been the brand leader for over 75 years.

when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. i could hear everything. call 1-800-miracle and schedule your free hearing evaluation today. - i'm sherry - and i'm john. i'm a pharmacist. as we were starting to age, it's like, well how can we help our cognitive abilities? we saw prevagen. i did read the clinical study and went ahead and gave it a try. i feel that prevagen is helping me with overall clarity and as a pharmacist, i've recommended it to, not only just customers, but also to friends and family as a safe product to try. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. back when i had a working circulatory system,

you had to give your right arm to find great talent. but with upwork, there's highly skilled talent from all over the globe. right at your fingertips. ♪ this is how we work now ♪ ♪ chevy silverado has what it takes to do it all. with up to 13 camera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? yeah. any truck can help you make a living. this one helps you build a life. chevy silverado. more shopping? you should watch your spending honey. i'm saving with liberty mutual, mom. they customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. check it out, you could save $700 dollars just by switching. ooooh, i'll look into that. let me put a reminder on my phone. save $700 dollars.

pick up dad from airport? ohhhhhh. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ will i said if you do it, there's going to be hell to pay. it's going to be a catastrophe. don't do it. he said no, no, no. you won't do that i told him i was going to do something. he said, no, no, no. you will not do that i said i will, vlad, i will do it. i'm going to do it. and do you know. >> bret: partitick off? >> whatever it was bad. >> bret: he talked a lot about foreign policy. i asked a lot of questions about

that. obviously the first part of the interview i was surprised he went as far as he did on some of the indictment reactions. they are different than what's in that paperwork. people are saying i interrupted too much. i was trying to get to focus on that first part. but, your thoughts on how he handled foreign policy in the negotiations tonight? >> brit: first of all, you didn't interrupt too much. you have to because interviewing him is like drinking water out of a fire hose. you wouldn't have gotten a word in edgewise. did you the right thing. on foreign policy he was on the indictment and charges against him. a lot of people who support him or want to support him who believe him when he says that putin would not invaded ukraine is it putin after all did pulled us out of afghanistan. he has got a point to make there. and he also has a point that he

had some kind of a relationship with kim kim jong un. i'm not sure it went anywhere disarmament. same applied to china. but he has been very tough in his attitude toward china. i think a lot of people support that he certainly has, as martha suggested more strengths on that issue than he did on the other stuff. >> bret: dana, on the question about going after the female back and forth about that. that's not going to move the female independent suburban voter. >> dana: i'm interested in this topic because we know this election is going to be tight. let's just say it is biden and trump and, once again, it's a rematch and it's very, very close. one of the things that's key this year like it was in 2020 are those independent voters. mostly women, some of the men who have jumped over from republican to democrat. so, are if they didn't vote for you in 2020, whether a are you giving to them that is different

on 2024. i thought the answer would be the economy. because women have been struggling. they have before suffering. they have been. >> bret: go over that tomorrow again. >> dana: his first answer was to talk about the election and his claims that was stolen and that is actually one of the precise issues that a lot of those independent voters said that's what we don't want to hear from you. >> larry: a lot of the independent voters resent a double standard from the justice department right now. isn't that a key factor? i tried to read these polls, also. i mean, again, his trump card for independents and everybody else is the economy. the pocketbook issues. to me, i look at him politically, joe biden wants to throw donald trump in jail before this presidential election. i think that's very clear. and i think that's the reason trump has such a big lead not only with republicans now but also against biden. his lead has widened. people see the unfairness of this and the double standard of this again, his trump card, if you will, is the economy.

because it's going to be a pocketbook election. >> bret: interestingly, he doesn't want jared and ivanka in the second administration if he gets elected. >> martha: i thought that was an interesting answer. he said my family has been through enough. and i don't want them to have to go through this anymore and he went child by child and talked about the fact that they are great kids, that they have worked hard in the business. that he tried to keep them away from areas of conflict of interest. there's the saudi deal where jared kushner is concerned that does raise questions. but, you know, i thought it was a very human answer, really. i think a lot of people look at jared and ivanka say i guess he has written them off. but i thought it was very interesting human answer. the one thing i would say about, you know, 2024 is that the messages are very similar to what he ran on both times in the past. and the message about sort of uplifting the country. what is your big picture image in terms of how you can take us to a better place that's more positive and more unifying? how does he pull those voters in a way that could unite them. >> bret: yhe doesn't have to tak

about any of this. he talks about that more on expanding last answer. >> thank you. >> brit as always, thank you. tomorrow on "special report" part 2 of my conversation with the former president. and that is it. remember, if you can't catch us live, set your dvr 6:00 p.m. eastern, 3:00 p.m. on the west coast. thanks for watching, always. that's it for "special report," fair balanced and still unafraid. here's jesse. >> jesse: thanks, bret. nice interview. >> bret: thanks, man. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> jesse: life is like blackjack. you win some, you lose some. but gambling is all about knowing when it's time to cash in. if you are up big, don't test your luck, or else, go home with nothing. >> i'll stay. >> i suggest you hit, sir. >> i also like to live dangerously. >> as you wish, sir.